CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) – The Beloved Early Education and Care Collective (BEE) hosted a symposium on Black Maternal Mortality with guest speakers, resources and breakout sessions for attendees to talk and learn together.
The local organization is creating community for pregnant women and families with children to learn and lean on each other through their development to ensure healthy and education children and parents.
Event organizer Crystal Davis says the BEE Collective does a lot and the symposium took a lot of collaboration. Attendees heard from doctors, doulas, minority research specialists and experts in the field of pre- and post-natal health.
“We just heard from Alicia Page with the South Carolina Commission for Minority Affairs, and she shared our data for the state and for Charleston County specifically. While the numbers have decreased overall, the black maternal rates have gone up. So, it’s important for us to get together as a community,” Davis says.
The event focuses on creating a community between the women impacted and the people there to help them. Davis hopes attendees will be empowered to make their health decisions, to trust their body and to know who to reach out to, regarding where their resources are.
“To learn best practices, to talk about advocacy, to be champions for our community, for our black moms and our black babies, and also perinatal professionals, like birth workers, doulas, postpartum doulas, lactation, educators with those moms who are seeking services,” Davis says.
The BEE Collective also hosts quarterly healing circles for post-partum mothers and summer water walking classes for pregnant mothers to grow community and reflect together on their journeys.
Davis emphasizes how important it is to have a community women can rely on when they are working through the miracle of life.
“Everybody wants to see the baby and mom is kind of on the side , but if we can get together and support mom and the way she needs. If that’s bringing food or making sure she’s staying hydrated or making sure she has a connection to a lactation specialist, meal trains everybody getting together and having foods, postpartum supplies like nursing pads and the breast pumps, those classes that help support mom,” Davis says.
The BEE Collective continues their work into early childhood advocacy. Stephanie McFadden says their policy work is called pushed out and they advocate with preschoolers who have been suspended.
“We are having conversations around implicit biases, trauma training, teacher pay, and educator pay overall,” McFadden says.
The group is planning an April 3 trip to the state capital to address lawmakers on legally protecting children and families. The organization says anyone interested in joining any of their events or the April 3 day of action can email them to get in touch and start conversations.
“We’re hoping to have parents and families come out with us to Columbia to our day of action where we go and speak to legislators and get some policy work done,” McFadden says.
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